Snow Patrol - A Hundred Million Suns

A pop culture review might look like this:

One of the more interesting albums put out so far by the Irishmen, A Hundred Million Suns presents some new areas of exploration for Snow Patrol. As the first three songs are drawn clearly from the heartfelt ballad-like lyrics of Chasing Cars, the rest of the album moves in slightly different directions. If There's a Rocket Tie Me to It and Crack the Shutters come most quickly to any listener, and they open the album as if to say 'We're Back'. However, as the album progresses into songs such as Lifeboats and Set Down Your Glass, a slower, more deepened sound emerges, from the electronica-tinged The Golden Floors to the heartfelt Engines. However, it could really be said that Lightbody really nails it on The Planets Bend Between Us. Snow Patrol closes the album with the most aggressive tune off the album, Disaster Button and the sixteen-minute three-part Lightning Strike. As noted by Lightbody and Wilson on their website, Snowpatrol.com, A Hundred Million Suns is focused more on a relationship in progress, and less on one ending. Songs like You Could Be Happy are replaced with Crack the Shutters; ending relationships are replaced with opening windows. Minor xylophone interludes are taken on by major guitar riffs, giving A Hundred Million Suns a somewhat progressing, positive sound, and is definitely a step forward for Snow Patrol.

But that would be ridiculously cheesy. The first three songs are rips on Chasing Cars, trying to top the charts again. Don't get me wrong. I love what the band did in the past. I could sing you the lyrics to every song on Final Straw, but I have one big problem with this album. IT'S OVER-PRODUCED. Majorly. The band had a good sound, but it got killed, slaughtered, butchered, etc. Lightbody's beautifully raw voice has been cut, chopped, synthed, and mutilated in so many ways, it's like the band isn't itself anymore. Which is really a pity.

I think it could escape with a 5 out of ten, but that's just me.

If you really want Snow Patrol, listen to Chocolate and Spitting Games on Final Straw, cuz those are really good.



-Owen